Unemployment slightly further down

In January 2011, seasonally adjusted unemployment in the Netherlands stood at 398 thousand, a decline by 3 thousand relative to December 2010. Unemployment has been in decline for almost a year now.

January’s unemployment decline can be attributed to the younger generation. In January, 80 thousand young people were unemployed, 7 thousand fewer than in December. Unemployment among 45 to 64-year-olds, on the other hand, rose by 4 thousand. The number of unemployed people in the age category 25-44 hardly changed.

In the first month of this year, 5.1 percent of the labour force were unemployed. Despite the decline in January, the unemployment rate was highest among young people (9.5 percent).